US 6,148,323 AGranted

System and method for managing the execution of system management

AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company

InventorsRichard B. Whitner, Douglas P. Drees, William G. Golson

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Abstract

A task manager for operating and performing management tasks called for by a system administration manager. The task manager includes a command task manager for performing command tasks, a function task manager for performing function tasks, and a remote task execution manager for performing remote or distributed task. In addition, the task manager includes a single application program interface for interfacing the command task manager, function task manager, and remote task execution manager with the system administration manager. The task manager further performs error handling and automatic logging operations. The task manager uses a task registration manager which stores the individual task descriptions and makes them available to the task manager.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A task management method for creating and performing a system management task at a local computer system that can communicate with one or more remote computer systems, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to perform a command task and a request to perform a function task via a single common application program interface (API), each of said requests include a task identifier, a pointer to a task data handle associated with said management task, a bit mask field, and a domain specification;
utilizing said task data handle to obtain data values from a data access facility;
utilizing said bit mask field to control a mode of monitoring said tasks, said bit mask field including error initialization, remote task execution monitoring and return data mode attributes;
obtaining a pointer to a task description associated with said command task and a pointer to a task description associated with said function task;
determining a domain for said command task and a domain for said function task;
invoking a remote task execution manager for performing said command task if said domain of said command task specifies a remote computer system and for performing said function task if said domain of said function task specifies a remote computer system;
invoking a command task manager for performing said command task if said domain of said command task specifies said local computer system;
and
invoking a function task manager for performing said function task if said domain of said function task specifies said local computer system.

6 more elements

A task manager system for creating and performing system management tasks, comprising:

a command task manager for performing command tasks;
a function task manager for performing function tasks;
a remote task execution manager for performing a command task on a remote computer system;
a single common application program interface (API) configured to interface requests for said command tasks with said command task manager and configured to interface requests for function tasks with said function task manager in response to requests from a system administration manager associated with a computer system, each of said requests include a task identifier, a pointer to a task data handle associated with a management task to obtain data values from a data access facility, a bit mask field to control a mode of monitoring said tasks and including error initialization, remote task execution monitoring and return data mode attributes, and a domain specification used to determine a domain for said command task and a domain for said function task;
and
wherein said single common application program interface invokes said remote task execution manager for performing said command task if said domain of said command task specifies a remote computer system and for performing said function task if said domain of said function task specifies a remote computer system, said single common application program interface invokes a command task manager for performing said command task if said domain of said command task specifies said local computer system, and said single common application program interface invokes a function task manager for performing said function task if said domain of said function task specifies said local computer system.

3 more elements

A computer readable medium having a computer program for managing the execution of tasks, said computer program comprising:

a command task manager for performing command tasks;
a function task manager for performing function tasks;
a remote task execution manager for performing a command task on a remote computer system;
a single common application program interface configured to interface requests for said command tasks with said command task manager and configured to interface requests for function tasks with said function task manager in response to requests from a system administration manager associated with a computer system, each of said requests include a task identifier, a pointer to a task data handle associated with a management task to obtain data values from a data access facility, a bit mask field to control a mode of monitoring said tasks, and including error initialization, remote task execution monitoring and return data mode attributes, and a domain specification used to determine a domain for said command task and a domain for said function task;
and
wherein said single common application program interface invokes said remote task execution manager for performing said command task if said domain of said command task specifies a remote computer system and for performing said function task if said domain of said function task specifies a remote computer system, said single common application program interface invokes a command task manager for performing said command task if said domain of said command task specifies said local computer system, and said single common application program interface invokes a function task manager for performing said function task if said domain of said function task specifies said local computer system.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.